The Schnapsen Log

Enemies (solution)

Martin Tompa

It seemed unlikely to me that Tibor was holding the spade marriage in his hand when he led ♦Q, because he could have catapulted his trick point total over 33 by declaring the marriage. This inference that the last face-down card in the stock was a spade meant that I had four winning cards in my hand; in particular, I would be able to cash both ♥AT. All that remained was to add up my trick points and see whether it would be enough. Taking his ♦Q lead with ♦K would bring my trick point total to 28. Cashing ♥AT would catch his ♥KJ, bringing the total to 55. Finally, cashing ♠A would complete the job, no matter which spade I had drawn from the stock. This line of play was sure to earn 2 game points for me.

Is there a chance that Tibor withheld the marriage in order to try to deceive me? This would only make sense if the deception would allow him to win one game point instead of losing one, since the worst he would do by declaring the marriage was to lose one game point. The worst card I could draw from the stock after falling for the deception and winning the trump lead would be ♥J. In that case, I would be on lead from this position:

Tibor: (32 points)
♠ TKQ
♥ K
♣ —
♦ J

Hans: (28 points)
♠ A
♥ ATQJ
♣ —
♦ —

I could still win 1 game point by cashing ♥A and forcing Tibor with ♥J. This would put him on lead from this position:

Tibor: (36 points)
♠ TKQ
♥ —
♣ —
♦ —

Hans: (43 points)
♠ A
♥ TQ
♣ —
♦ —

Declaring the marriage now would only bring his trick point total to 56, after which I would win the remaining tricks.

Therefore, it was completely safe to win his ♦Q lead with my ♦K. I fully expected to draw a spade from the stock and score 2 game points. And I did.

© 2014 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.

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